AG Ferguson launches lawsuit against Trump over ghost guns
Jan 20, 2020, 2:02 PM | Updated: Jan 21, 2020, 6:15 am
Roanoke Firearms store owner John Markell holds a Glock 19 handgun April 17, 2007 in Roanoke, Virginia. Virginia Tech senior Cho Seung-Hui, 23, a native of South Korea, bought a similar Glock 19 handgun from the shop 36 days before going on a shooting rampage that left 33 people dead. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Onto lawsuit number 55 — state Attorney General Bob Ferguson is planning on suing the Trump administration again, this time over 3D-printed “ghost guns.”
Untraceable ‘ghost guns’ pretty easy to build yourself
The AG says he’s challenging an effort to allow 3D-printed gun files to be released on the Internet, and is leading a coalition of 21 states in a new federal lawsuit.
“Why is the Trump Administration working so hard to allow domestic abusers, felons and terrorists access to untraceable, undetectable 3D-printed guns?” Ferguson said. “Even the president himself said in a tweet that this decision didn’t make any sense — one of the rare instances when I agreed with him. We will continue to stand up against this unlawful, dangerous policy.”
The next battleground between gun rights and gun control could very well be over 3D-printed guns, asking questions over how much access should people have to making their own firearms at home.
Sometimes referred to as “ghost guns,” the files allow plug-and-play access to 3D-printed that can be hard to detect even with a metal detector. A federal judge in Seattle previously struck down the Trump administration’s push to release such files as a result after a multistate lawsuit, so the administration is finalizing formal rules, at which point this new lawsuit will be filed.
Case over 3D-printed guns likely to raise more legal questions
The administration laid out its proposal for public comment on Friday, and plans to finalize the plan next week.
Ferguson argues releasing the files would lead to “unregistered, untraceable firearms” that can be hard to detect.
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